1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine tool such as a machining center (hereinafter referred to as MC) having a table, and more particularly to a machine tool which may readily remove chips splashed down onto the table and introduced into T slots of the like of the table.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an MC out of machine tools, in many cases, there is provided with a table arranged substantially in a horizontal direction. Normally, T slots are formed on a top surface of the table.
For example, a double housing MC (double housing machining center) having the table arranged substantially in the horizontal direction is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 5-26245, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-71533, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-267320, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-286734, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-99420.
The above-described table is positioned in a machining area. Accordingly, chips and cutting fluid generated during machining would be splashed down onto the table and parts thereof would be introduced into the T slots. Because the cutting fluid flows to the outside from the T slots, there is no problem. However, most of the chips introduced into the T slots would not be discharged but remain therein so that the amount of chips within the T slots is increased as the machining is advanced.
In some cases, not only the top surface of the table but also the T slots should be cleaned up during setup work on the way of the operation of the MC or upon the completion of the operation. However, the T slots are narrow in width and long in the longitudinal direction. In addition, an inner lower portion of the T slot is wide in width. For this reason, it takes long time and much work to remove the chips introduced into the T slots. This causes some load in cleaning work.